HERE'S MORE on the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Forbidden Book Exhibit in Dallas.

PHILOLOGOS discusses the Hebrew word Metsiya, which means both a good find and a rip-off, and is part of the title of a Talmudic tractate.

UPDATE: Edward Cook e-mails:

Good link on metsiya. The Hebrew word and Aramaic words are different though -- the Heb. is from mem-tsade-alef "to find" and the Aramaic (as in Baba Metsiya) is from mem-tsade-ayin "middle". The linked article doesn't really bring this out clearly.

A NEW PATRIARCH OF BABYLON OF THE CHALDEANS is being elected. The liturgical language of the Chaldean Church is Aramaic.

ANCIENT JEWISH NOVELS: AN ANTHOLOGY, by Lawrence M. Wills, is reviewed by Mark Jay Mirsky in the Forward. The book deals with Joseph and Aseneth, Judith, the Testament of Job, the additions to Esther, etc.

BLOGGER HAS BEEN DOWN this morning for scheduled maintenance. The Blogosphere reels.

ERICH VON DÄNIKEN has opened a "Chariots of the Gods" theme park in Switzerland (via Archaeology Magazine News). You just can't make this stuff up.

Despite the fact that he's a nut, I have a soft spot in my heart for von Däniken: at an impressionable age I read his books and they got me interested in ancient history and archaeology. So in a roundabout way you have him to thank (or blame) for this blog.

THE JEWISH LANGUAGE RESEARCH WEBSITE IS NOW COMPLETE:

From Sarah Bunin Benor: We are pleased to announce the completion of the Jewish Language Research Website: http://www.jewish-languages.org/

This website is designed to be a resource for Linguists, Jewish Studies Scholars, and the general public to learn about the speech and writing of Jews throughout history and around the world. It provides information about 14 Jewish languages: Hebrew, Jewish Aramaic, Jewish English, Jewish Malayalam,Judeo-Arabic, Judeo-French, Judeo-Greek, Judeo-Iranian, Judeo-Italian, Judeo-Persian, Judeo-Portuguese, Judeo-Proven�al, Judeo-Spanish/Judezmo/Ladino, and Yiddish

The site presents short descriptions and bibliographies of these
languages, written by top researchers, and it provides contact information for over 50 scholars from 10 countries. It also provides information on computing in Hebrew and Jewish languages, as well as links to several other resources.

Please contact the editor, Sarah Bunin Benor , if you have suggestions or questions.

(From the H-JUDAIC list.)

THE JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES has a new issue out (62.4). Not only that, it appears that I failed to note the previous issue in July (62.3). There are no articles of direct paleojudaic interest in either issue (well, maybe JOHN C. POIRIER. "Generational Reckoning in Hesiod and in the Pentateuch" in 62.3) but there are many relevant book reviews (you have to download the complete PDF file of reviews for each issue in order to access any one review).

In issue 62.3 see the following reviews:

FLORENTINO GARC�A MART�NEZ and EIBERT TIGCHELAAR, The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition. Vol. 1. 1Q1�4Q273. Vol. 2. 4Q274�11Q31 (Michael O. Wise)

ROBERT A. KUGLER and EILEEN M. SCHULLER, The Dead Sea Scrolls at Fifty: Proceedings of the 1997 Society of Biblical Literature Qumran Section Meetings and LAWRENCE H. SCHIFFMAN, EMANUEL TOV, and JAMES C. VANDERKAM, The Dead Sea Scrolls: Fifty Years after Their Discovery: Proceedings of the Jerusalem Congress, July 20�25, 1997 (Michael O. Wise)

EUGENE ULRICH, The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Origins of the Bible (Michael O. Wise)

ZIPORA TALSHIR, I Esdras: From Origin to Translation (Ralph W. Klein)

M. P. WEITZMAN, The Syriac Version of the Old Testament: An Introduction (Tawny L. Holm)

ZE'EV BEN-HAYYIM and ABRAHAM TAL, A Grammar of Samaritan Hebrew: Based on the Recitation of the Law in Comparison with the Tiberian and Other Jewish Traditions. Rev. ed (Joseph Malone)

And in issue 62.4 see:

SAMUEL KOTTEK and MANFRED HORSTMANSHOFF, From Athens to Jerusalem: Medicine in Hellenized Jewish Lore and in Early Christian Literature: Papers of the Symposium in Jerusalem, 9�11 September 1996 (Robert D. Biggs)

GEOFFREY H. PARKE-TAYLOR, The Formation of the Book of Jeremiah: Doublets and Recurring Phrases (Christopher A. Rollston)

JOHN F. KUTSKO, Between Heaven and Earth: Divine Presence and Absence in the Book of Ezekiel (Christopher A. Rollston)

ANDREW G. VAUGHN, Theology, History, and Archaeology in the Chronicler's Account of Hezekiah (Christopher A. Rollston)

HERE ARE MORE DETAILS ABOUT THE FAKE LOST-TEN-TRIBES ARTIFACTS, which are to go on display in the Michigan museum to which they were donated. The forger seems to have made quite a cottage industry of the fakes in the late nineteenth century.

BRYN MAWR COLLEGE is hosting a forum on November 6-7 entitled "Jews and Christians Reading the Bible," which will be webcast live with participation from readers online. For more information follow the link. (Heads-up, Bob Kraft on the PSCO list.)

PROFESSOR JOHN RUSSELL has e-mailed Francis Deblauwe with some updates on the situation with antiquities sites in Iraq.

OUT FOR THE COUNT: My Bravenet counter has vanished! Their website won't open my account either. I'm not aware of having done anything to my blog's template, so I assume the problem is with Bravenet and not with me.

UPDATE: It's back now.

ANDRE LEMAIRE critiques the IAA's report on the" James ossuary" for Biblical Archaeology Review. The current issue of BAR also has snippets on biblical archaeological items currently in the news (Hezekiah's Tunnel, "James ossuary," Absaloms Tomb & Zacharias inscription," etc.) here and some thoughts and information on the upcoming Society of Biblical Literature conference in Atlanta here.

HERE'S A PRELIMINARY REPORT on the fourth season of excavations at Hippos Sussita, near the Sea of Galilee (Bible and Interpretation News).

A WARNING SHOT? Jim Caviezel, who plays Jesus in Mel Gibson's The Passion of Christ, has been struck by lightning during the filming. Fortunately, he and assistant director Jan Michelini (who was struck for the second time in this incident) were not seriously injured.

The film is scheduled to be released in the U.S.A. by Newmarket Films on 25 February (Ash Wednesday). (Thanks to Jim West for this reference.) Gibson's own Icon Productions will distribute it in Australia and the U.K.

Not taking into account, of course, any further acts of God.

TOBIT DELETED: Here's a New York Times article on an etching of "Tobias and the Angel" by Hercules Segers which Rembrant reworked into an image of "The Flight Into Egypt."

SOME FAKE ARTIFACTS, produced in the late nineteenth century as proof of presence of the lost ten tribes in Michigan, have been donated by the Mormon Church to the Michigan Historical Museum.

A BATHHOUSE FROM THE TIME OF JESUS IN NAZARETH? By now you've probably heard of this one, but here's the article about it in The Guardian.

UPDATE: Christine at Mirabilis.ca notes this Ananova article from last December which cites an archaeologist and a biblical scholar who argue that the bathhouse should be dated to a millennium later than the time of Jesus. David Meadows of Rogue Classicism has been following the story since the beginning and also has comments (via Mark Goodacre).

I'M BACK IN ST. ANDREWS and, thanks to the time change, with only seven hours of jet lag instead of the normal eight. I'm not feeling particularly alert, but I'm here in my office, and I'll see presently what I can blog up.

NEH SUMMER SEMINAR IN ARAMAIC:

Aramaic in Post-Biblical Judaism and Early Christianity

NEH Summer Seminar
June 14-July 23, 2004
Duke University

In this six-week seminar, participants will study the Aramaic language and literature of post-biblical Judaism and early Christianity. In the mornings, participants will receive intensive instruction in three dialects of Aramaic: Jewish Literary Aramaic of first-century Judea and Qumran, Jewish Palestinian Aramaic of Galilee in the third century and later, and Syriac, used extensively in Eastern Christianity. The Seminar is structured so that participants, upon successful completion, will have mastered at least one dialect for use in their personal research.

In the evenings, there will be seminars discussing the literature written in these dialects and analyzing how that literature can be used in historical and religious studies of ancient Judaism and Christianity. Topics will include: Dead Sea Scrolls, Bar Kokhba, synagogue and ossuary inscriptions, the language of Jesus, Targums and Peshitta, rabbinic literature, and Dura Europos, as well as Ephrem and Aphrahat. One week will be devoted to seminars on the history and development of the Aramaic language.

The six-week program will be organized to give participants support to do original research in Aramaic on a topic of their choice and to compose a publishable paper on it.

The organizers and principal teachers are: Eric M. Meyers, Paul V.M. Flesher, and Lucas Van Rompay.

Guest teachers and seminar leaders: Michael Sokoloff, Bar Ilan University (Israel); Douglas Gropp, Catholic University of America; Hayim Lapin, University of Maryland; Tina Shepardson, University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Participants will be selected from applicants who have completed their doctoral dissertation. Knowledge of Hebrew as well as elementary knowledge of (any type of) Aramaic are a prerequisite. Successful applicants will receive a stipend of $3700.

For application information, please contact:

Nancy Hurtgen
Department of Religion
NEH Seminar
Box 90964
Duke University
Durham, NC 27708-0964
919/660-3500
nhurtgen@duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/web/nehdas